Electrophotographic printers produce images that are written by a beam of light onto a photoconductive drum (or band) that has a uniform electric charge over its surface. The action of the light beam produces a charge pattern on the photoconductor, which is then developed by applying particles of toner that are attracted to the image but are repelled by the background. The image is then transferred to a medium (e.g., paper) by pressing the medium against the drum and applying an electric field on the opposite side of the medium as the toner layer. Toner is typically fixed to the medium by heat and/or pressure.
In high speed production printer applications it is often desirable to estimate an amount of toner used to print a digital job using a specific electrophotographic printer. However, current toner estimation methods are inaccurate. Specifically, an accounting for the buildup of toner near edges within an image is the component missing in current methods that is required for an accurate estimate. The toner deposited at the edges is created by “fringe field development”. Further, the amount of toner at an edge cannot be described by a simple model since toner build-up varies widely depending on data in the vicinity.
Accordingly, an accurate toner estimation mechanism for an electrophotographic printer is desired.